F3 Knoxville

Category: The Project

The courage to lead

THE SCENE: Warm for January, low 50s and damp. Something like Ideal gloom with a waning gibbous overhead
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators
  • Tempo Squats
  • LBACs
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Fence Steppers
  • Grady corn

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to the parallel bars and have each man  handwalk the parallel bars
  • Mosey to the pool wall
    • Wall sit-ups – All PAX wall sit then do a wall-up upon command.
    • Repeat 5 times
  • Mosey to recruiting center
    • Relocate the entire block stack to the corner of the lot. TO move each block:
      • 20 plyo-merkins or thrusters to farmer carry each block
      • 20 4-ct heavy freddies or flutters to lunge the block
      • 20 swings or good mornings to rifle carry the block
    • Relocate the poles likewise in pairs
      • 20 golden arches then shoulder carry
    • Then move everything to the other corner of the parking lot
    • Then put it all back where we found it
  • RTF

MARY:
11 Heels to heaven, 11 American Hammers
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

On Saturday, I was fortunate to attend the convergence down at Bombshelter and, among several benefits, hear a message from Cap’n Crunch, one of the OG founders of F3 Knoxville. His message was framed with four points on how to improve personal leadership:

  • Resist Passivity
  • Expect Long-term Gains
  • Accept Responsibility
  • Lead Courageously

While any one of these points could serve as the jump-off point, today I am focusing on Lead Courageously. Unlike some other virtues, like temperance or fortitude, Courage is a word that still gets a fair bit of use in the modern cultural lexicon. Pretty much no matter who you are or how you view the world, everyone agrees that courage is virtuous, because everyone agrees that there are things which ought to be done that fear prevents us from doing. Now, Cap’n Crunch noted, and it bears repeating here, that courage is not the absence of fear. If you are not afraid, then you have no need of courage. Rather, courage is fortitude to endure fear which makes possible justice despite opposition, temperance in the face of temptation, and prudence which sees future peril but is not diverted. C.S. Lewis, in the voice of Screwtape, put it this way:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of all virtues at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity, or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” – Screwtape

Obviously, having courage is great, but how do I get it?

There is more than one way to answer this question, but today I want to focus on one that we moderns somehow often neglect: From the men at your side. Ever notice what lies at the center of this word: en-COURAGE-ment From time immemorial, men have been facing challenges in groups, even when it provides no pragmatic advantage. In fact, this reality lies at the very heart of F3. By facing our challenges together, with shields locked, we muster courage which we do not individually merit. Do not neglect to engage this resource, for:

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:36-39)

No one knows the future. If you desire to lead, you must either be naïve to this or courageous to face it.
MOLESKIN:
I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to lead you fine men this morning. Coming out of a bewildering day, you helped bring me back to center. Truly grateful for your fellowship today and always.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence at Rampart Saturday to finish his VQ and honor his memory. Receiving of friends is 3-5 at South Harriman Baptist Church, Funeral at 6. Burial will be Sunday at 2 pm at Bookwalter Cemetery in Knoxville.

Pocket Full of Kryptonite

THE SCENE: Cool, foggy, and 33. Perfect for gettin’ you gloom on!

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Chicky Check!

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH x15
  • Knox Cherry Pickers x5
  • Willy Mays Hayes x8
  • Tempo Squat x10
  • Tempo Merks x10
  • Down Dog + What’s up dog? x4
  • LBAC x10
  • RLBAC x10
  • Grady Corn x10
  • Hallelujah x10
  • Night Clubs x10
  • Chattanooga Cherry Pickers x10
  • Michael Phelps
  • SSH

Stretch OYO.

Let’s mosey!

THA-THANG:

11s on K25 Hill. Burpees at the bottom. American Hammers (2 count) at the top. First man calls recover.

Mosey to The Pond.

PAX partnered up for Dora. PAX 1 performs the following exercises. PAX 2 Dora’s around the loop.

  • 100 Shoulder Taps (double count)
  • 150 Merkins
  • 200 LBCs
  • 250 Monkey Humpers

RTB for Mary.

MARY:

Flutter Kicks – Bobbitt x15
Awkward Turtle – Ocho x10
Basilisk – Biohack x10

Time was called.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

YHC has a medical condition that require a strict diet. Generally, one does not notice how sick they are until they get healthy get healthy. Tons of very small day-to-day choices add up to gradually feeling worse and worse.

Which leads YHC to the following question:

What if Lex Luthor didn’t try to kill Superman with a large load of kryptonite? What if he just sprinkled a little bit in his cereal every morning? That hat would make Superman feel just a little bit off all the time. He’d eventually get used to that feeling after a while and accept it as a new normal. Without killing Superman, Lex Luthor could gradually and subtly reduce him to a mere man.

Where in your life are you compromising? Where in your life do you need more discipline? Where are you sprinkling just enough kryptonite in your life to keep you from being the man you’re meant to be?

Energy kryptonite – What zaps your energy during the day little by little?

Work/productivity kryptonite – What you wrote you for being a productive contributor?

Moral kryptonite – What are the erodes your moral principles?

Faith kryptonite – What erodes your connection with God?

Love kryptonite – What the roads your connections with other people?

We know the power of tiny habits in the positive sense. What are the tiny habits in your life that are slowly reducing you to less than you should be that need to go?

1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

MOLESKIN:
For those counting, if you finished the 11s at K25, you have completed 55 burpees.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
See Slack for details!

2023 January Metric

THE SCENE: Cool and pleasant
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivator
  • Cherry pickers
  • Windmill
  • Tempo squat
  • Big daddy arm circles
  • Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:

The following list of exercises are performed in sets of 25 reps. After completing a set of 25 reps, put down your CMU, run 25 yards, do 2 burpees, return to your CMU, and continue. 

Here are the exercises:

– 150 curls– 125 heavy squats– 100 OHP– 75 CMU swings– 50 Thrusters– 25 Blockees

When you finish the Blockees, start back at the top with curls.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Short weights and half measures were used to cheat people in commercial transactions.  In today’s metric workout, the only person to cheat is you.  Don’t take a half measure today to make it easier to show improvement in 6 months.  Take a real measurement and push yourself to get better.

Tour de Project

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Imperial Squawkers
  • Grady Corn
  • Sumo Squats
  • Spiderman Merkins
  • TN Rocking Chair
  • Pickel Pounders
  • Pickle pointers
  • Burpees

THA-THANG:

  • String of pearls – do the work, plus one burpee
  • The Bell – 10 box jumps
  • The Old Bell – A burpee
  • K-25 hill – 20 merkins and run it
  • The Pond – 20 flutter kicks and run it
  • North Pole – A burpee
  • Amphitheater – 20 Derkins
  • Playground – 5 pull ups
  • Pool wall – 10 wall-ups
  • Parallel bars – 20 inverse rows, 20 BBS
  • Back Porch – 20 TN Rocking Chairs
  • Fountain – 20 Dips
  • Tennis courts – 3 suicides
  • ORHS – 10 sumo squats (each side) and run it

MARY:
Box cutters, Awkward turtles, Heels to heaven
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

There is a moment that every single person desires. That is the moment is when the people around them suddenly realize that  they are serious. The real deal. Legit.

It’s a common scene in movies. The loud mouthed, trash talker gets put in his place by the unassuming professional, the master in disguise.

But in truth, most of us struggle to even take ourselves seriously. Imposter syndrome is one common name for it, though this moniker is typically invoked to tell someone that they are ok. In F3 we know that this is all too often not the case, so we use the term Mascot. Someone seeking to appear as something they are not. This is counterpoint to a core idea: Esse Quam Videri. To be rather than to seem.

As we enter into the new year, I want this idea to beat at the heart of our lives. In everything we do, we should ask whether we are concerned with the Appearance or the Reality. Do I want to look fit or be fit? Do I want to look like I have my life together or do I want to actually have it together? Do I desire for others to see me as pious or to truly have a heart for God?

Most New Years resolutions are more about appearance. Looking busy. Instead we are going to focus on making small changes, difficult to perceive but powerful because they are sustainable, granting them the advantage of time. Because we don’t want to just look the part. We want to Be the Man.

MOLESKIN:
Praying for Boy George and his family. Best of luck.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence Saturday, sign up. MABA has started (We decided you got 18 from the Q). Look for 2 minutes to spend on your cor(e).

Racing Snails

THE SCENE:  32 and clear.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Muttered somewhat incoherently…but you all know the drill!
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivator
  • KCP
  • Moroccan nightclub
  • Seal squats
  • Down/up dog
  • Merkins
  • Stretch OYO

THA THANG:

Mosey to the Rock Pile.  Toys are set out in a circuit.  Divide into two teams to play Snail Races.

There are two ways to win.  The first way is to move your team’s baby snail to the finish line (baby snail is two touching cones – you move it by placing one cone in front of the other, always touching).  Perform a set, move your baby snail, move to another station of your choice and begin your next set.  The second way to win is to move the big snail into your team’s slime and do 25 SSH before the other team moves him out (big snail is a large tire on a pallet, pulled by a rope).  Any number of team members can move the big snail (1 by himself, or 2 men or 3…)

Stations were;

  1. 10 Pull ups
  2. 30 goblet squats
  3. 15 ball slams
  4. 40 jump rope
  5. 30 derkins
  6. 20 thrusters
  7. 25 stack squat
  8. 20 cmu swings
  9. 10 blockees
  10. 40 curls

 

Mary Recovery

 

Round 2:  Flip the cards.  Repeat the game.  New exercises were;

  1. 10 cmu lunges
  2. 10 hanging leg raises
  3. 40 jump rope
  4. 15 slam ball launches
  5. 30 OHP
  6. 10 plyo merkins
  7. 20 good mornings
  8. 15 farmer step-ups
  9. 40 triceps
  10. 10 burpee jumpovers

MARY:

Omaha’s version of American Hammers

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 11 of the best men I know – plus Honkytonk visiting from downrange and two 2.0s!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Haggai 2:3-9, “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’  “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

“How does it look to you now?”  The reflection this morning was about…reflection.  It was an encouragement to do some reflective thinking in the next few days as we close out the year and make plans to accelerate in 2023.

John Maxwell said, “Reflective thinking turns experience into insight.”.

Peter Drucker said something similar, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

So, reflecting back on your year as a father, husband, friend…  Use those insights to help ponder your acceleration in the New Year and be even more effective in those roles.

Some questions to ponder

  • What was the most enjoyable part of my work (both professionally and at home)?
  • In what area do I feel I’ve made my biggest improvements?
  • What was the most challenging part of this year for me?
  • Who is someone I got to know better this year?
  • Who do I wish I had gotten to know better in the past year?
  • What was the best way I used your time this past year?
  • What was my single biggest time waster in life this past year?
  • What’s the biggest mistake of the year, and the lesson learned as a result?
  • What was the most fun I had this year?
  • What was my best memory of the year?
  • If I could travel back to the beginning of the year, what advice would I give myself?

 

 

As an AO, at the beginning of 2022, we set these goals.  We did pretty well!!!  Soon into 2023, let’s set some new goals for the group…

  • We now have a few metric workouts to measure performance (military fitness PT, and today’s heavy PT baseline).  Let’s re-do those occasionally to see how our performance is trending.  Weekly Push/Pull/Plank challenge on Slack.
  • Consistency in the gloom and chatter on Slack.  Outside of the gloom – Hiking daytrips…  Dinners…  Bonfires…  Spring camping trip…
  • More deliberate discipleship.  Developing smaller shield lock groups within the larger Project group.  Meditating on and committing scripture to memory.  Leading our families in study, prayer, and faith.
  • More men in attendance. More Sad Clowns who need something like F3.  Specifically, more newly married men and new fathers – those are critical points in a man’s life and full of anxiety.  We have a wealth of experiences to share with those men – let’s find ‘em!
  • Family Workout! It’ll be great to get the families together monthly. It’s also a service to the community to we are uniquely gifted to provide.  I think this will largely define The Project’s evolution in 2022.

 

MOLESKIN:

The workout teetered on the verge of being too complicated – but was still kind of fun!